Wired to the World, Chained to the Home

Gurstein gives an extremely valuable, comprehensive view of the telework boom that integrates her own studies in Canada with world- wide literature on the subject. She gives a scholarly appraisal of telework's many forms and shows how they differ in their human impacts. -- William Michelson, S.D. Clark Professor of Sociology, University of Toronto

Will working from home solve many of society's ills, or create new ghettos? This book analyzes the experiences to look at workload, mobility, work status and gender to understand the implications of telecommuting on employment policies, community planning and daily life patterns.

How does working at home change people's activity patterns,social networks, and their living and working spaces? How will itchange the way we plan houses and communities in the future? Willtelecommuting solve many of society's ills, or create newghettos?

Gurstein combines a background in planning, sociology of work, andfeminist theory with qualitative and quantitative data from ten yearsof original research, including in-depth interviews and surveys, tounderstand the socio-spatial impact of home-based work on daily lifepatterns. She analyzes the experiences of teleworkers includingemployees, independent contractors, and self-employed entrepreneurs,and presents significant findings regarding the workload, mobility, thedistinct differences according to work status and gender, and thetensions in trying to combine work and domestic activities in the samesetting. As organizational structures, technology, and familypriorities continue to change, the often overlooked phenomenon ofteleworkers has important implications on everything from employmentpolicies to community planning and design.